Abstract
The coastal areas of eastern Japan suffered extensive damage from the tsunami that followed the 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku. The damage to coastal woods on the Sendai plains of Miyagi prefecture was particularly significant. For future management of the surviving coastal woods, it is necessary to analyze time series changes and to maintain the area effectively. To date, the use of time series satellite observations in assessing the recovery process has not been adequate, and long term monitoring with high-resolution satellite remote sensing has only rarely been performed. In this study therefore, the disaster and recovery of coastal woods on the Sendai plains were evaluated using high-resolution, time-series satellite remote sensing, and changes in the woods were analyzed using a detailed image interpretation of the images acquired. Furthermore, the distribution of the vegetation index value was observed using these images, and the recovery process of the coastal woods was assessed in this respect.
